Rashida Tlaib, then a Michigan House of Representatives member, responds to a question during Detroit-Windsor Bridge Authority Annual Public Meeting at Mackenzie Hall February 11, 2016 in this file photo.Nick Brancaccio / Windsor Star

Though nobody likes to say so, some Michigan congressional and legislative districts suffer from a lack of political talent. But in others, there’s an embarrassment of riches — and sometimes, that can lead to a different kind of dilemma.

The question: What do you do when you have a host of superbly qualified candidates — in a place where only one party can ever win?

That’s the situation these days in most districts in Michigan and many other states — some of which are trying a new solution aimed at restoring competitiveness: a so-called “jungle” or “top-two” primary, where the top two vote-getters in August square off against each other in November — regardless of party.

That’s what happens in Louisiana, where general elections now sometimes feature two Republicans. California, after years of fighting in the courts, has a similar system.

But Michigan has no jungle primary, or even a law permitting runoff elections if nobody gets a majority.

What it does have is extreme gerrymandering, where nearly all districts are safe, or nearly so, for one party.

What this means is that most congressional and legislative elections are decided in the August primary, where voter turnout is often less than 20 per cent.

And in cases where there are multiple candidates, this means someone can win what may turn out to be a lifetime seat in Congress with a mere few thousand votes.

This year, that’s especially likely.

Take the 13th Congressional District, for example, which has had no incumbent since John Conyers, first elected in 1964, resigned in December after sexual harassment allegations.

The district is overwhelmingly Democratic — and open congressional seats have been so rare in Detroit that a flood of candidates are expected to be on the Aug. 7 primary ballot.

They include the departed congressman’s son, John Conyers III, and his grandnephew, Ian Conyers. Detroit city council President Brenda Jones is running, as is State Sen. Coleman Young II, who lost last November’s race for mayor of Detroit.

State Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo is in as well, as is former State Rep. Rashida Tlaib. The district has a majority African-American population. It was designed to elect a black member of Congress. But it is entirely possible that a crowded primary, a candidate like Tlaib, a Muslim of Arab descent, could finish first.

Suppose that were to happen, and council President Jones finished a close second. Jones might well win a runoff … except there wouldn’t be one.

In Michigan’s Ninth Congressional district, former House ways and means chairman Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak) is retiring after 36 years in Congress. That set the stage for what you might call this year’s “embarrassment of riches” Democratic primary, one that features three superbly qualified candidates:

— Ellen Cogen Lipton, 50, a scientist and a patent attorney who went to Harvard Law School. In the legislature, she was known for diligent work exposing the failure of Gov. Rick Snyder’s Education Achievement Authority.

— State Senator Steve Bieda of Warren, 57, is also an attorney who has an uncommon ability to work with Republicans in the legislature. One of his main achievements was finally getting the state to pay compensation to innocent people who can prove they were wrongly convicted and imprisoned, sometimes for years.

— Andy Levin, 57, the third candidate, is the incumbent’s son. Another lawyer, he has considerable government experience. He’s managed worker training for the state, has run the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, and now runs Levin Energy Partners, which looks for public-private partnerships to create environmentally effective energy solutions.

A November runoff between the top two might be good for the voters. But instead, whoever squeezes out a win will face a hapless Republican who, thanks to gerrymandering, is unlikely to get much more than a third of the vote in that district.

So far, no one has shown any interest in trying to amend the Michigan Constitution to allow a jungle primary.

But if this year produces enough unrepresentative winners, the “law of the jungle” may suddenly look more attractive.

Jack Lessenberry is the head of journalism at Wayne State University. He writes for a number of Michigan publications and is a senior news analyst with Michigan Public Radio. He can be reached at bucca@aol.com.

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